Pablo Ortiz
Pablo Ortiz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 |
| Died | September 11, 2001 (aged 48–49) |
| Nationality | USA |
| Occupation(s) | Navy Seal, construction superintendent |
| Known for | heroically rescued occupants of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 |
Pablo Ortiz worked as a construction superintendent for the New York Port Authority, the organization that managed the World Trade Center, and is credited with playing a central role in rescuing at least 77 people who were trapped in the building's elevators.[1][2][3] Survivors describe last seeing him ascending a stairwell to go open more elevators with his friend and colleague Francis "Frank" De Martini.[4]
Ortiz and De Martini worked on the 88th floor, just a few floors down from the impact.[5] The impact injured some occupants on their floor. Doors were jammed shut when the door frames were twisted. Ortiz, De Martini and their colleagues, Pete Negron, Carlos da Costa, determined that only one stairwell could be made accessible, after clearing some debris. After sending the occupants of their floor down that stairwell to safety, they set about rescuing their fellow occupants on the next floor up.[1][4]
Ortiz, De Martini, da Costa and Negron all died, still trying to save fellow occupants, when the building collapsed at 10:28 A.M.[1][4][6]
In August 2003 authorities released many transcripts from 911 telephone calls, and from the radios of first responders.[5] Jim Dwyer's summary of those transcripts described, in detail, the heroic acts of Ortiz, De Martini and their colleagues. Dwyer eventually wrote a book about the collapse, 102 minutes, where he wrote they "pushed back the boundary line between life and death in favor of the living".[1][7]
Ortiz was a former Navy SEAL.[1]
References
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"Remembering Pablo Ortiz: A Hero of the 88th Floor". 911 museum. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
Altogether, Ortiz, De Martini, Pete Negron, and Carlos da Costa helped at least 50 trapped people by acting as citizen first-responders, New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn estimated in their 2011 book 102 Minutes.
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Jim Dwyer (2011-09-08). "In Love With Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
That morning, Raffaele Cava, age 80, was working on the 90th floor of the north tower. After the plane hit, no one could open the exits, so he went to another office and sat with Dianne DeFontes and Tirsa Moya. The hall floors were melting. Suddenly, two men in the stairwell pried open the door, walked in and ordered everyone to go. They were Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz, Port Authority employees who worked one flight down, and who took it on themselves to climb up and down 14 floors, getting scores of people out. They never left.
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Bryan Fitzgerald (2011-05-03). "Sense of relief, but little joy: Local mothers of 9/11 victims say they take little pleasure in the killing of Osama bin Laden". Times Union. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
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Nick Westoll (2016-09-11). "9//11 survivor recalls carrying elderly man down 89 floors before losing 2 best friends". Global News. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
As they were getting ready to leave, Hanna said De Martini insisted Hanna and Ortiz go to the 89th floor after he heard someone banging on the door. Despite the smoke from the upper floors, they managed to open the door, allowing those trapped to escape—including the 89-year-old man. The men made their way down to the 78th floor. De Martini and Ortiz stayed behind while Hanna made the 46-minute journey to the ground floor with Mo
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Jim Dwyer (2003-08-29). "The Port Authority tapes: Overview; Fresh Glimpse in 9/11 Files Of the Struggles for Survival". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
As for Mr. De Martini and Mr. Ortiz, the transmissions disclose only fragments of their efforts, but taken with the accounts of the people they saved, add to a powerful narrative of heroism and loss.
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Jim Higgins (2011-09-02). "'102 Minutes' captures tragedy, humanity of Sept. 11". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
Sometimes the rescuers were fellow civilians. Port Authority employees Frank De Martini, Pete Negron and Pablo Ortiz roamed through the north tower helping to free trapped people. They did not make it out alive.
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Jena McGregor (2013-09-11). "Remembering some of 9/11's great leaders". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz: The "Heroes of the 88th Floor," as they've been memorialized, these employees of the Port Authority, an architect and a construction inspector, respectively, "pushed back the boundary line between life and death in favor of the living," wrote Jim Dwyer in the New York Times, helping to rescue at least 50 people.
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